| Method | Soft ground etching |
| Artist | Elizabeth Howorth after John Baptist Malchair |
| Published | Publish'd as the Act directs Jany. 20. 1789 by J.B. Malchair Oxford |
| Dimensions | Images 355 x 310 mm, Plates 440 x 340 mm, Sheets 545 x 430 mm |
| Notes |
A pair of rare Oxford prints looking through the North Gate from St. Giles and Cornmarket. The view includes the Anglo Saxon tower of the church of St Michael at the North Gate and the Bocardo prison, located in the North Gate watch tower, supposedly deriving its name from a particularly difficult syllogism. The Oxford Martyrs were imprisoned in the Bocardo Prison before they were burnt at the stake just outside the city walls in what is now Broad Street, in 1555 and 1556. John Baptist Malchair (1731 - 1812). English painter and printmaker of German birth. The son of a watchmaker, he moved to England c.1754 and taught music and drawing in London, Lewes, and Bristol before settling in Oxford as a drawing-master and leader of the band at the city's Music Room. In 1763, he published 12 etchings of views near Oxford. Further sets of etchings followed in 1771 and 1772. His only Royal Academy exhibit was a watercolour landscape, shown in 1773 when he was listed as an honorary exhibitor. There is no evidence that he sold his work. Nearly 500 drawings by Malchair are in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. These include unpretentious cottage subjects and panoramic views of the city (e.g. Oxford in Flood Time, from Shotover Hill, 1791) characterized by an atmospheric haziness achieved through blurred pencil lines and grey or pastel wash. Elizabeth Howorth (1735-1820) was a British engraver. According to a letter by John Baptist Malchair, Howorth was the daughter of Dr Lane, the former canon of Hereford. She married Captain John Howorth, a captain in the Royal Navy. Howorth took up printmaking to add to the family income while her husband was on half-pay. Condition: Minor toning to sheet edges. Toning to verso. Areas of thinning to margin of bottom of both sheets, professionally repaired. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £550.00 |
| Stock ID | 50804 |